allusion means an indirect reference; a hint; a reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned.
allusion is pronounced /əˈlu.ʒən/.
Why “allusion” is a great word
An indirect reference, especially to a literary or historical person, place, event, or another text, made without explicit mention. From the Latin allūsiōn- (stem of allūsiō), meaning 'a playing with, an allusion', from allūdere, 'to play with, jest, refer to', from ad- ('to') + lūdere ('to play'); first recorded in English 1540–50. Unlike an "illusion" (which deceives the senses with false appearance) or a direct "reference" (which states plainly and exhaustively), allusion is a whispered confidence between the knowing. It is the scar on a hero's cheek that summons an entire epic, the clock striking thirteen that opens a dystopia, the green light across a bay that carries the weight of vanished dreams—the art of saying less so that the initiated hear everything in the silent space where two minds meet across time.
noun
- An indirect reference; a hint; a reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned.“I remember, before the Dwarf left the Queen, he followed us one day into thoſe gardens, and my Nurſe having ſet me down, he and I being cloſe together, near ſome Dwarf Apple trees, I muſt need ſhew my Wit, by a ſilly Alluſion between him and the Trees, which happens to hold in their Language as it doth in ours.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- allusive 92% match — that contains or makes use of allusions (indirect references or hints) vs allusion →
- innuendo 88% match — A derogatory hint or reference to, or (often sexual) insinuation about, a person or thing. vs allusion →
- metaphor 87% match — The use of a word, phrase, concept, or set of concepts to refer to something other than its literal meaning, invoking an implicit similarity between the thing described and what is denoted by the word, etc., that is used. vs allusion →
- entendre 87% match — A meaning, especially one that is implied rather than explicitly stated. vs allusion →
- foreshadow 86% match — To suggest (someone or something) in advance; to prefigure, to presage. vs allusion →
- intertext 86% match — A reference to one text within another. vs allusion →
- implication 86% match — The act of implicating. vs allusion →
- simile 86% match — A figure of speech in which one thing is explicitly compared to another, using e.g. like or as. vs allusion →